Topics

41

General Mach Discussion / Modbus Serial Plugin Issue

« on: June 15, 2014, 07:34:13 PM »

I've been using modbus for a few years but now have the need to read a DWORD (16 bit).  I've always ued the non-plugin setup which always worked great.  I recently tried the plugin version because it seems like it may be easier to deal with a 16 bit number.  Here's the issue.  When I disable the plugin and bring up the standard modbus setup screen, I can go to the test screen, enter addresses and such, hit read and it works.  When I enable the plugin and go to the test page all I get is a timeout.  The port is connecting properly, just timing out.  If I disable the plugin and go back to the standard setup, it all works again.

Does anyone have any ideas?  Or possibly an in-depth explanation of how to set up modbus using the plugin?  I've been through the videos and everything else I could google to no avail.

Thanks

42

General Mach Discussion / Optimizing Win XP

« on: April 17, 2014, 09:37:03 AM »

Hi All....I know there is a document that covers this, but I can't find it.  A search yields all sorts of threads talking about it, but no clues as to where it is.  I thought it was in member docs.  Can anyone point me towards this document?

Thanks

43

General Mach Discussion / Version .066 Arc Issue

« on: October 25, 2013, 08:25:47 PM »

So I decided to try .066 and everything seemed fine until I tried running G02/03 commands.  Mach completely ignores both sometimes.  It's always either one or the other.  This issue does not occur in Version .022.

Has anyone else seen this?  In the code below, the G02 is ignored on V.066 and runs fine on V.022.  Did .066 bring about a difference in the way Mach handles G02/03.  The code below is non-modal.  If I change.....

G02 X6.06 Y3.03 I-3.03 J0   

to....

G02 I-3.03 J0

It runs.  Why is that and is there a setting in Mach so that it will run non-modal code.

Thanks

G20
G90
G91.1
M1102
M1112
G00 Z0.5
G00 X4.5 Y3.03
(CUT INNER DIAMETER)
G28.1 Z0
G92 Z0.1
G00 Z0.2
M03
G4 P0.2
G00 Z0.14
F80
M1101
G03 X4.5 Y3.03 I-1.47 J0
M05
M1102
G00 Z0.5
M01
G00 X6.06
(CUT OUTER DIAMETER)
G28.1 Z0
G92 Z0.1
G00 Z0.2
M03
G4 P0.2
G00 Z0.14
F80
M1101
G02 X6.06 Y3.03 I-3.03 J0  (This line is completely ignored)
M05
M1102
G00 Z0.5
M01
G00 Z2
G00 X0 Y0
M30

44

General Mach Discussion / File Load Speed

« on: February 26, 2013, 09:06:34 PM »

Is there a way to speed up the file load process?  When I had everything but the actual feedrate moves in macros, programs loaded fast.  Since moving al of that back to GCode, I notice that programs load very slowly.  A large program may take a few minutes to load, then if you regen the display, it does it all over again.  I tried turning off the tool path display, but that didn't make a difference.  The machine seems to run better with everything back in GCode, but we run some very large programs and the load time is an issue.  Any ideas?

Thanks

45

General Mach Discussion / G31 issue

« on: February 19, 2013, 11:34:56 PM »

Has anyone ever had an issue where G31 ignored the digitize input?  Basically, the G31 is inside a macro and works a few times, then the G31 will initiate, the Z travels down, the digitize signal goes active, but the Z keeps going and crashes.  It seems to be a random thing.  There are no errors or warning in Mach3.  It acts as if the digitize signal is being ignored.

Any thoughts on the issie would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

46

General Mach Discussion / Cryptic Error Message....

« on: January 30, 2013, 05:14:34 PM »

All of a sudden we're getting the following error message.....

Error on line: ********* ‐ Application defined or object defined error

Has anyone seen this?  It seems to be happening inside a macro that has a few While isMoving() statements.  It doesn't happen all the time.  Usually after the 3rd or 4th time the macro runs.  This is on a fresh install of Mach3 on a clean XP computer.  Wiped the HD, installed windows and installed Mach3.  We set this PC up to replace one that was randomly scaling parts for no reason.    My instinct tells me that this has to be PC related because we run the same code on many PC's.

Any ideas?

Thanks

47

General Mach Discussion / Run From Here hangs on M03

« on: October 19, 2012, 02:11:30 PM »

Never had much luck with Run From Here, but I thought I give it another shot.  If I stop the program, roll it back to a previous line number and hit Run From Here, it is supposed to prompt for a prep move, then after moving a second cycle start press restarts the program.  This only works if I have the Z axis inhibited.  Other wise when Mach does it's simulation run to determine the prep move, it hangs on M03...which is the code to fire the torch.

The line before that is also an M code that does a G31.  Is mach trying to simulate the G31 inside that M code? There is some code there that tells it not to run the G31 if Z is inhibited. If so, is there a way to tell it to ignore M codes during a RFH simulation run?  I have "Ignore M codes on loading" checked in general config.

Thanks

48

VB and the development of wizards / Type Mismatch

« on: October 18, 2012, 01:06:49 AM »

Can anyone tell me why I'm getting a type mismatch error on the following line of code...

SetOEMDRO(54, 2.250)

54 is the safe Z DRO.  Is there some reason that you can't set this DRO in VB?

Thanks

49

General Mach Discussion / Disable jog on only 1 axis.

« on: September 16, 2012, 06:31:49 PM »

Currently I have a button the turns jog on and off with a LED beside it.  What I'd like to do is have three buttons with LED's.  Each button would turn on/off jog for one axis.  Is that possible?

Another less attractive approach would be to set the jog hotkeys using VB code...If that's possible.  To turn job off, just set the hotkey to 0.

What do y'all think?

50

General Mach Discussion / New...And very odd issue

« on: May 02, 2012, 04:11:10 PM »

In 10+ years of working with Mach on numerous machines, I've never seen this one.  When you zero the X axis, then G0X50, it moves 50".  If you G0X0 it moves back 48.75".  The error accumulates consistently as the length of travel increases.  50" will always produce an error of 1.25".  96" of travel will always produce the same error of about 2".  The closer to zero the travel gets, the smaller the error.  We know it's not a mechanical issue and to make it even more perplexing, if we zero on the other end of the table and G0X-50 followed by G0X0, it returns properly to zero.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?  We're re-installing Mach3 since everything else has been checked OK.   It's almost as if Mach is using different steps per settings for X- vs X+ motion.  If it were something loose or random missed steps, I wouldn't expect a consistent error.

Thanks